KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

[Deleted User]

I am mentally done in, MK or moscow, they are tiring because they make me stop and think and sometimes I like to be mindless. I have 1/4 left to do and they are all summer things, so no rush. Only 4 garments and 3 good bags are to go

Upside is that my main wardrobe is categorised, each category divided by one multi skirts or trousers hangers and the best skirts/trousers on the right, which will be for grabbing when I visit anywhere or go to the hairdressers. It will be far easier for me to ring the changes now and has been worthwhile. Its all about see-at-a-glance for me

I will not be buying any more clothes for years to come :)

GreyQueen

:T Blimey, kittie, wherever do you find the energy?!

I've decluttered some broad bean seeds into the ground (in the rain) and am now cracking on with some things in the homestead whilst doing laundry.

Through this process and my multi-year affection for mimimalism websites, I've come to the following conclusions about my own life.

Much of the Stuff in my life owes its presence to the following circs:

1. Other people decluttered it and gave it to me (biggest category).
2. I bought it 2nd hand because it was such a good bargain.
3. I overbought new stuff because it was a great deal.
4. I hold onto things because I fear poverty.

:o I'm not a passive victim of circumstances, of course, more a co-conspirator, and my responses to the above are.

1. Just because other people want to give me their excess, I don't have to accept. I can offer to physically get it to a chazzer, if there is an impediment to them doing it themselves. Pals/ family won't cut me out of their lives/ fail to like me if I say no thank you, occasionally (I hope!).

2. Excess Stuff is still excess Stuff, and just because I had the opportunity to buy it at pennies on the pound, compared to new, it doesn't follow that it's a wise decision. I don't need a lot more than I already have on hand. In fact, I need less!

3. Some of these bargains are edible or otherwise consumable and go off. Then the great deal becomes a waste, and I hate waste.

4. Yes, I am in the lowest decile of earners in a modern western country, but this is not poor. I have plenty of stuff to eat, wear, sleep under, rub on my rind etc. I don't need to grab onto every opportunity for More for fear there won't be Enough at some unspecified point in the future. I am probably SABLE for many categories of clothing etc.

OK, that's the lid off some of my weaknesses.

Have used up the last of a small travel hair conditioner today, and one of the hankies coming through the wash which I'm about to put on the airer has holes developing, and will be heading into the rag-bag. Will keep on using stuff up and getting it outta here.

Pooky

My method of working out what to keep clothes wise has been to turn the hangers the opposite way to normal then as I use things I put them back the right way, anything that!!!8217;s left the wrong way round after a few months (within seasons) is out the door.

I do a wash each day and most clothes items are washed, dried, ironed and back in the wardrobe with in 48 hours so I do not need 15 t shirts or 5 pairs of jeans. We are not holiday people so no need for 2 weeks worth of stuff to lug to another place. So much easier to keep up with washing and ironing when there is not so much stuff to wade through.

Today I have kondod a 2nd tin of paint in the hall, need to crack open a 3rd later but a bit of a break for an hour first....been painting since 9.30am up silly tall ladders and quite frankly I need a cuppa and a relax.

Another charity bag came through the door last week so I challenged myself to fill it, I got it half full and it is in the car to drop off tomorrow....where is it all coming from?

My 3 piece suite has been kondod to a friend (it leaves next week), they wanted to buy a new one, we were going to look at getting something smaller later in the year but agreed they might as well take ours now and we will find something sooner. Saves us the hassle of trying to sell ours and they have the transport to remove it from us. They are very happy and their old suite is moving on down to one of their children. I can bring the conservatory sofa in for now until we find something we like.

Slinky

Went shopping yesterday with OH. He asked if I wanted to look at new clothes for our holiday in a few weeks. I pointed out that the weather in this country is so bad I have lots of summer clothes I rarely get to wear so didn't feel the need to add to them. We bought him a couple of new shirts, one to replace a favourite he was wearing for the last time, as although well loved, it's shrunk from medium to small. I'll pass it along to the charity shop as it still has lots of wear in it.


For me, I got a new ironing board cover as the old one was severely frayed on the edges, and some strong thread to effect a repair on OH's suit carrier. Cover has been replaced this morning, old one thanked and binned. Repair has been made to the suit carrier.


Yesterday afternoon we made a bit of headway in the garden. OH mowed the lawn when he got home on Friday night as rain was forecast yesterday, but in the end it didn't arrive until night time. The couple of days of sunshine and wind had dried the soil to the point I was confident to put the onion sets in, plus I did a fair bit of weeding. The soil was in the rare condition between soaking wet and baked brick, in places, so I managed to get out some long established weeds I've been annoyed by for a long time. I chopped some penstemans back that were getting leggy but have good growth at the base so hopefully will fill out in the next few weeks.


OH edged the lawn out the back so it's all looking much more tidy.

maryb

All makes a lot of sense GQ. My problems are related to the fact that I have Enthusiasms. I get really into a hobby or craft and buy Stuff. I love it at the time but then I move on. But I know from experience I will cycle round and revisit an old Enthusiasm at some point and would regret it if I rehomed the Stuff in the meantime.

And we do have room for my hobbies especially now we are empty nesters. Should we downsize I think I would be pragmatic at that point and a lot of my Stuff would not be hard to dispose of. But what weighs on me is some of the bigger Stuff that we would have to dispose of in a major lifestyle change and which wouldn't be so easy to shed.

GreyQueen

maryb wrote: »

All makes a lot of sense GQ. My problems are related to the fact that I have Enthusiasms. I get really into a hobby or craft and buy Stuff. I love it at the time but then I move on. But I know from experience I will cycle round and revisit an old Enthusiasm at some point and would regret it if I rehomed the Stuff in the meantime.

And we do have room for my hobbies especially now we are empty nesters. Should we downsize I think I would be pragmatic at that point and a lot of my Stuff would not be hard to dispose of. But what weighs on me is some of the bigger Stuff that we would have to dispose of in a major lifestyle change and which wouldn't be so easy to shed.

I am myself a creature of enthusiams and my reach usual exceeds my grasp, due to pesky things like lack of energy and time etc etc.

However, my real problem is lack of space. Home is 240 sq feet, a bedroom just a bit bigger than a standard double bed, a 6 x 6 ft kitchen, and the largest room (sitting room) a whopping 9 '7" x 12 ' 9'.

What this means, on a daily basis, is that there is a real struggle to live a normalish life, even doing such unusual things as cooking a meal/ drying laundry etc.

There is also a very tight correlation between Stuff and quality of life; even a modest amount of excess in the former detracts greatly from the latter. I struggle with this, haven't found an answer yet, except that I need to have a constant plan to throughput items which have been used, like books, and to run down supplies of things which are presently above needed levels, but which aren't being re-stocked when they wear out due to natural attrition.

On the plus side, unlike those poor souls with spare bedroom/s, double garages, a conservatory, plural sheds, I don't have to clear those spaces out periodically and run cars up and down to the tip....... there are many blessings to tiny-flat-in-centre-of-small-walkable-city life - one of them is the seven minute stroll up to the central library.:T

WeeMidgie

I can so identify, maryb and GQ, with the Enthusiasms / storage space conundrum. The room sizes in the flat I'll be moving to are just a bit bigger than yours GQ, and so I'll be following your lead in the use it up stakes as space will be tight.

A wee task tomorrow is to go through a plastic box of assorted attachments for vacuum cleaners, find out which ones are still useful, then see if the local CS will take the orphans.

Karmacat

GreyQueen wrote: »

4. Yes, I am in the lowest decile of earners in a modern western country, but this is not poor. I have plenty of stuff to eat, wear, sleep under, rub on my rind etc.

I've not heard that particular saying :rotfl: that's brilliant.

I like your categories, GQ - I have a mix of your (1) and (4) at the moment, other people decluttering and holding on to stuff myself - though I wouldn't say its fear of poverty that makes me do that, its more *avoidance* of poverty. The thing where thats most obvious is shoes and boots, then fleeces.

Hobbies! Books, genealogy papers, and knitting and craft supplies. Yikes.

[Deleted User]

I love that word `enthisiasms` that is me to a t and now my house move is governed by my enthusiasms because that is what is left when everyone has gone. I go back to each one, at least a couple of times every year and then I move to another, none of them are wasted and all are productive, just doing the one enthusiasm for a very long time would take the excitement factor away.

Wardrobe storage is working!! I grabbed a matching suitable outfit to wear under a hm maroon parka coat (came via an enthusiasm and looks wonderful) and am killing some time now before leaving to see how these EAs try and sell me a home. I am laughing behind my hand because I have found major `hidden` downsides to both. Tell you more later. It will take me an hour to get there

I put a cross shoulder bag back, pac safe bag, last worn in Italy where someone on the trip was robbed, next time may well be worn in our capital, if I ever go, would be my fourth trip this lifetime

luxor4t

MMF007 wrote: »

......
So now I assume you all imagine me living in a tasteless and clashing riot of colour with lots of random pictures, a large model boat, 2 over-sized sunloungers and a serene mahogany dining suite trying to claim I have good taste :rotfl::rotfl:

Now I have typed that sentence I realised I *am* crazy :eek: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:[/QUOTE

My dad used to have a 6 foot wing from a model aeroplane balanced on the top of his wardrobe, and everything in our house was random - no condemnation here :beer: